Skeletal Guardian

undead · CR 1/2 · from Ancient Tome of Dark Magic
Skeletal Guardian
StatisticValue
AC5
HD1+5
THAC018
Attacks1
Damage1d8+1

Description

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Grymryck’s Reformation (Necromancy)

AttributeValue
RangeTouch
ComponentsV, S, M
DurationSpecial
Casting Time1 round
Area of EffectSpecial
Saving ThrowNone

This spell causes a faint, black aura to appear around the caster's hands, a link to the Negative Material plane. Thus ensorcelled the mage is able to repair damage suffered by corporeal undead with a simple touch, in effect "healing" their bodies - mending bones, replacing lost flesh or musculature, etc. The mage may repair 1d4 points per level, to a maximum of 10d4. These points need not be expended on a single creature, but instead may be divided among as many creatures as the caster has dice of healing - i.e. if a necromancer can restore 6d4 damage, he may restore 1d4 a piece on as many as 6 creatures. The wizard must state the number of dice he wishes to bestow on a particular undead before touching it and rolling for results. One creature can be "healed" each full round, regardless of the number of dice used, and none can be raised above its normal maximum.

Example: Kafir, an 8th level necromancer, casts Grymryck's Reformation, allowing him to restore 8d4 points to injured undead. He wishes to heal 4 zombies, nearly butchered by some intrepid advenuturers. The first is badly damaged, and Kafir decides to expend 3d4 on it, restoring 9 of its lost 11 hit points. The second and third are less beaten, and each receives 2d4 of healing, which bring them close to their maximum hit points. The last is only down 2 hit points, and Kafir's last d4 restores 4, healing the zombie its lost 2 - the other 2 points are lost. Healing the 4 zombies took 4 rounds in addition to the round required for casting.

Grymryck's Reformation only affects undead that still have hit points, and thus may not be used to "reanimate" an undead destroyed by spell or combat. Further this spell can not regenerate lost limbs and such, nor can it return a body to a better state than that which it was in immediatley before it was damaged, thus flesh cannot be created on skeletons, nor a semblance of life given to zombies. The caster need not use this spell only on undead he created or controls, but on ghouls, ghasts, vampires or even liches if such were desirable. However, this spell provides no protection against the affects of touching some of these horrors. Grymryck's Reformation can only be used on corporeal undead, and has absolutely no effect on the inanimate dead.

While the spell is in effect, the caster's hands radiate evil strongly. Although the mage may handle objects and defend himself witout consequence, he is unable to cast spells other than those of the Necromantic school, and cannot cast any other touch-based necromantic spells without foiling the Reformation. The spell may also be dissipated if the caster is struck with a holy symbol or holy water, or if he is in the area of a Dispel Evil - in these cases he must save vs. spell to keep the Reformation intact. Unless spoiled in some fashion, the spell lasts for 1 round per caster level, or until all available dice of restoration are expended.

The material components are a small amount of dirt from a grave and a few drops of the caster's blood, both of which are smeared over the caster's hands.

Heal Undead I (Necromancy)

AttributeValue
Range10 yards
ComponentsV,S,M
DurationInstantaneous
Casting Time2
Area of EffectOne creature
Saving ThrowNone/Negates

This spell is used to heal all sorts of undead, both corporeal and immaterial. The caster uses negative energies to rejuvenate the undead's vital energies, healing 1d8 points of damage. This spell can also be used against the living. Damage is half the healing, so it would be 1d8 divided in two, round up. A saving throw negates. The somatic component is a pointed finger which glows indigo at the time of casting, and a drop of blood if cast by a living caster (a lich, for example, would not require this component).

Human Touch (Necromancy)

AttributeValue
RangeTouch
ComponentsS
DurationPermanent
Casting timeOne night
Area of effectOne creature
Saving ThrowNone

Duration is explained later. When Human Touch is cast, it allows the recipient to regenerate one Hit point every ten turns, however the caster must remain in constant physical contact with the recipient. If contact is broken, the spell ends. (there's like... 144 turns in a day? so 72 in one night? At maximum effect it allows the caster to help someone heal 7 hit points in a night, the caster is not doing the healing, merely aiding it in his own arcane way.)

Ice Blood (Alteration, Necromancy)

AttributeValue
RangeTouch
ComponentsV,S,M
Duration2 rounds/level
Casting Time2
Area of EffectCreature Touched
Saving ThrowNegate

This spell alters the blood of the recipient to solid ice, giving the person several benefits. The first is the fact that caster suffers only half damage from all weapon attacks, as no blood is lost from cuts or crushed veins, and that the ice makes harming the softer tissues more difficult. Also, the recipient receives a +4 bonus against any Charm-Type spell, as the icy blood makes the spell recipient cold and impassionate. Since the character's blood is pure ice, he also gains immunity to all normal cold, and subtracts -2 from all cold damage (minimum 1 point) die rolls.

Unfortunately, the recipient becomes extremely vulnerable to fire, suffering double damage from any fire attack (The Hands of Steam spell does not do double damage to an Ice Blood recipient. Instead, normal damage is taken and the Ice Blood spell is negated). The character also tires twice as quickly in hot weather, and treats his personal body temperature as +50 ° higher in weather of 0 ° Fahrenheit or above.

Also, because of the extreme dulling of emotions, the spell recipient cannot Beserk or instigate a lycanthropic alteration under his own will, though magic can instigate the change or beserkial rage.

The material component of this spell is several shards of ice stuck into the spell recipient's arm.

Incorporate Skeleton (Necromancy)

AttributeValue
RangeTouch
ComponentsV, S, M
DurationPermanent
Casting Time5 rounds
Area of EffectSpecial
Saving ThrowNone

This spell is similar to the 5th level spell Animate Dead. It creates the lowest form of undead creature, the skeleton. The spell animates the remains of a fallen humanoid, monster, or animal, imbuing it with part of the caster's life force, creating skeletons as described in the AD&D Monstrous Manual. In addition, fallen small and tiny creatures can be made into skeletons with ½ HD, conserving all other properties.

However, this spell has great disadvantages compared to its 5th level counterpart. As mentioned before, instead of returning a portion of the spirit that inhabited the body during life to animate the corpse, the mage uses his/her life force to animate the corpse. Note that this allows the dead one's spirit to rest without disturbing them in any way. This would allow good and neutral-aligned wizards to animate bodies with less alignment related implications. Upon the creation of a skeleton, its hit points are rolled and the caster must attempt to make a successful wisdom check. If the wisdom check fails, the skeleton collapses, losing the life force that was infused into it and its hit points are deducted from the caster's total hit points, accounting for the essence that was used in the attempt to animate the corpse. If the check is successful, the caster not only creates the skeleton but can also command it by will, due to the link between their life forces. The skeleton's hit points are still deducted from the caster's total though, since his/her life force was still used. As the caster loses hit points, he/she begins to grow pale and sickly. If the caster drops to zero hit points or less, he/she falls unconscious and has a number of rounds equal to his/her constitution score minus the number of points below zero to be healed magically. If the caster is not healed within this time, he/she dies with no chance of being raised or resurrected save by means of a wish. Each time this spell is cast, the caster may animate a number of skeletons equal to his/her level. A wisdom check must be made for each skeleton to see if it was successfully animated.

The material component for this spell is a drop of the caster's blood and a bit of bone from a graveyard.

Infected Wounds (Necromancy)

AttributeValue
Range30 yards
ComponentsV, S, M
Duration1 day
Casting Time2
Area of EffectOne creature
Saving ThrowNegates

This spell will cause any wounds to become infected, be they scratches or large wounds. Wizards do not need to hit their intended victims. The victim must make a saving throw versus death magic, and if he fails, his wounds will not heal naturally. Healing and herbalism will also fail to heal these wounds. The use of magical healing will heal the infection, at the cost of a cure light wounds - no damage will be healed, but the infected wounds will be negated. The material component for this spell is a powdered opal of 10 or more gold pieces value.

Kanugal's Ashen Choke (Necromancy)

AttributeValue
Range30 yards
ComponentsV, S, M
Duration1 round/level
Casting Time2
Area of effectOne creature
Saving throwNone

The caster hurls ash at the target, and extends the gloved hand in a clawlike grip. A grey, misty hand appears at the target's throat and the caster tries to hit using normal Thac0. On a successful hit, the ashen hand will begin choking the victim. Damage is: 1, 2, 3, 4 ... points per successive round with no further to-hit rolls required.

The hand looses its grasp if the caster takes an action other than maintaining the choke. If the caster takes damage while choking, a failed save vs spell drops the choke. A lost choke or a missed attack can be re-established next round with a new to-hit roll. The choke is also interrupted if line of sight is lost, victim makes a successful bend-bars roll, or if the hand takes 1/level of caster points of damage. The hand is affected by silvered or magical weapons, and has an AC of 7. When choking, attacks on the hand may also damage the victim...

The material components are ash from a cremated corpse and a grey woolen glove.

Korel's Death Aura (Illusion/Phantasm, Necromancy)

AttributeValue
Range0
ComponentsV, S
Duration2 hours per level
Casting Time2
Area of Effect10-foot radius

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